2000s teen drama set in California / WED 12-19-18 / 2002 animated film with woolly mammoth / Relative of discotheque / Cartoon uncle of Scrappy doo informally

Constructor: Seth A. Abel

Relative difficulty: Medium (4:24)

THEME: ANAGRAM (lol, seriously, that's the revealer) (38A: Each asterisked clue vis-à-vis its answer) — just what it says

Theme answers:

• SYCOPHANT (20A: *Acts phony)
• NATURALIST (11D: *A trails nut)
• GARBAGEMAN (28D: *Bag manager)
• THEHILTON (52A: *Hint: hotel)

Word of the Day: TOPSY (31D: Young slave girl in "Uncle Tom's Cabin") —

Topsy – A young slave girl. When asked if she knows who made her, she professes ignorance of both God and a mother, saying "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." She is transformed by Eva's love. During the early-to-mid 20th century, several doll manufacturers created Topsy and Topsy-type dolls. The phrase "growed like Topsy" (later "grew like Topsy") passed into the English language, originally with the specific meaning of unplanned growth, later sometimes just meaning enormous growth. (wikipedia)

Wow this is not good. The theme has no cohesion. At all. The revealer is just ANAGRAM. So the clues are the anagrams of the answers? Well whoop-dee-do! Also, no. If you're going to do this, the clues Have To Function As Real Clues Do (even if they are somewhat odd and wacky-ish). This is to say you canNot have a verb phrase (i.e. [Acts phony]) cluing a noun (SYCOPHANT). A million billion times, no. The others are at least all match, clue to answer, in terms of part of speech. But that SYCOPHANT clue is absolute GARBAGE, MAN. Also garbage: THE HILTON. First because of the THE, and second because jeez come on give the theme *some* kind of unifying principle; at least let all the answers be *people*. Types of people. That's a very, very loose category, but at least it's Something. But no. No. THE HILTON. I'm just surprised this theme is as badly executed and as poorly thought through as it is. I'm surprised it was accepted at all. And the fill is so puzzlingly bad. I started rewriting corners out of boredom. Try it. It's fun.

But seriously, OENO- UNPC TVPG all in one 4x4 corner??? You gotta try to be that bad. And throw in Yet Another jokey SOTS clue (1D: Ones always tossing things back?). This puzzle's really ticking all the regrettable boxes. ITAT ALETAP SCOOB TOPSY THEOC TERR TAI. It's too rough in too many places. But can we go back for a second to the fact that the revealer is ANAGRAM. I'm just ... that is the answer. Sitting in the middle of the grid. That's the total extent of this puzzle's logic. That's all it's got. The answer set needs to be much tighter and the revealer needs to be ... something. Some kind of phrase with wordplay. Something infinitely better than the simple description, ANAGRAM. Amazing.


Hey, the NYT is raising their pay rates for constructors. I tweeted about it as soon as I found out:

They're still doing the stupid two-tiered pay system, where cronies (sorry, people who have had 10 or more puzzles published) get paid Considerably more. But the big bump up is a very welcome and long overdue development. Pay's still too low, but it's a big improvement. Base pay: $500 for M-Sat, $1500 Sun. After a constructor's 10th NYT puzzle publication, it goes to $750/$2250. Note, however: today's puzzle was the constructor's .... 12th. Just to give you some idea of what that sweet veteran pay scale is gonna buy you. . . .

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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